“THE GLOOMERS” RELEASE HALLOWEEN EPISODE

The Gloomers, a new animated cartoon series debuting at Comic Con this year, released its first Halloween episode today. www.facebook.com/thegloomers

The Halloween episode stars famed horror director and Evil Dead II writer Scott Spiegel, who plays himself in the cartoon.

The Gloomers series is the brainchild of Charles Mechem, who was CEO of Taft Broadcasting, which owned Hanna Barbera for over 20 years. The Gloomers includes Neal Barbera, son of Joe Barbera, as a writer. Neal Barbera wrote a number of classic Hanna Barbera scripts, including Yogi Bear and Scooby Doo and many others.

THE GLOOMERS is an animated series that follows the trials and tribulations of the hysterically funny heirs to misfortune, the Gloomer family. Crashing the classic Hanna-Barbera animation of the Jetsons and Flintstones with a post-modern comedy slant, the show is both a reflection and an antidote to our modern day “gloomy” outlook. We all have bad days, sometimes even the kind of day that plunges your entire life into chaos. Now, imagine if every day was like that…

Enter The Gloomers.

From generation to generation the Gloomers have endured the worst bad-luck streak in recorded history. The torch of tribulation is carried proudly by the patriarch, Dooman Gloomer, a hapless inventor who, despite his consistent failings, still holds out hope for that one elusive moment that will break the chain and let the sun shine in. Sadly, that day never, ever comes.

Dooman’s best friend, Moses, a 262 year old parrot that has been in the Gloomer family for generations, knows this all to well and amuses himself by reminding poor Dooman every chance he gets.

Dooman’s wife, Lotta, stands by his side through all the explosions, fires, electrocutions and falls that happen with common frequency.

Their detached son Junior has inherited the Gloomer luck, but since he has retreated to the basement in his helmet, he does not yet realize the magnitude of his potential misery. His only friend is a Marcel Marceau-like spider named Cunape.

Somehow, the curse passed over little sister Notta who, oblivious to the doom and despair that surrounds her, floats effortlessly through life on a cloud of hope that always avoids the dark rain cloud that follows the rest of the Gloomer clan, which also includes a clinically depressed dog, Lugubrious, and a robotic cat named Despair.
Aimed at the kid in all of us who wishes they could simply laugh away bad luck; aimed at anyone who ever felt that they were not very different from Charlie Brown or Wile E. Coyote.

The Gloomers reminds us that no matter how bad your day was, chances are The Gloomers was worse. Kids, teens and adults will be attracted to the show’s bizarre sense of comedy and unfortunate circumstances, but it is the universality of the characters and the Gloomers unconditional love for each other that will secure the series a fiercely loyal following.